31 STATES CLAIMING U.S. OVERPAYMENTS

BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. ?? (AP)— The Social Security Administration made overpayments of $197 million to the nation's elderly, blind and disabled in the first six months of a new distribution system, according to an independent audit report.

A large share or the overpayment by the Supplemental Security Income program is claimed by 31 states that have their own state Social Security programs. The states plan to use the report as a basis for recovering their money.

“The negotiations are going to be in said Lou??siana's legislative auditor, Jue Burris, who released a copy of the report Monday.

The Washington Star reported last August that overpayments anmunted to R‐103 million in the program's first. 18 months of operation, beginning Jan. I, 1974. It attributed the mistakes to computer errors.

At the lime, Social Security administrators took issue with The Star's report of $103 million, hut acknowledged that there had been $2S1 mllion in overpayments that caseworkers were trying to recover.

The most recent report drafted by a surveillance com munitee composed of auditors front seven of the states and was based on an audit of the social Security Administration by the Depertment of Health, education and Welfare.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this archives appears in print on February 29, 1976, on Page 35 of the New York edition with the headline: 31 STATES CLAIMING U.S. OVERPAYMENTS. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe